Pastor’s Welcome

Dear Friends,

Thanks for your peek into the web site of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Tenafly. I am pretty sure that checking out the welcome message of the pastor was not the first thing on your mind when you arrived at olmc.us.

Perhaps you are considering marriage and the beauty of our church appeals to you? If that is your need, we will be happy to try and help you.

Maybe you have a new addition to your family and you are looking to schedule a baptism and comparing what we require with what other nearby parishes require? Again we will try to help you, but we do so with the expectation that you are, or will become, a registered parishioner.

More likely, you have heard about our blue ribbon Catholic elementary school and that is what you read first. Good choice, we are a strong, proud Catholic school and we plan to be open long after your children graduate.

I’m also aware that some who are reading this, are active members of other parishes, perhaps even staff at other parishes. You are reading this to check out what is happening among nearby Catholic communities. I say this because I know that is what I have done in the past and frequently still do.

Whatever tweaked your interest in checking us out, please know this about us:

We are Catholic, striving to be faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ and acknowledging that we are very far from perfect in that noble mission. We strive to be a welcoming, hospitable community. We have many blessings and we are doing all we can to demonstrate how grateful we are to God. We staff the Office of Concern at St. Cecilia’s in Englewood. We serve the homeless as partners in the Family Promise county-wide program. We are going on medical mission to Peru in 2018.

All of this we do to continually affirm that we are brothers and sisters with the entire human family. Where do we nourish our spirits? At the table of the Lord every single day and four times on Sunday.

I have yet to mention that our parish is staffed by the Carmelites. I am the 26th in the long brown line of Carmelites who have the privilege of serving here.

If you do choose to take the next step and actually come to a Mass or an event at Mt. Carmel, I urge you to speak to me. If I am not celebrating the Mass, I will be either on the front steps or the side door. I’m the guy in the baseball hat. Once you see me in person, you will understand why I always wear a hat. Please say “hi” and please allow me to say in person, “Welcome to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.”